US rescues 12 Haitians from tiny island near Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A dozen Haitian migrants who spent five days on a tiny, uninhabited island near Puerto Rico where human smugglers abandoned them have been rescued. The U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday that a small campfire the group built on Monito Island caught the attention of U.S. Border Patrol agents. The U.S Coast Guard then dispatched a cutter, adding that when the seven men and five women spotted it, they made their way down a rocky cliff and jumped one by one into the water. The barren, rocky island located between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic has increasingly become a drop-off point for smugglers.